There were three games yesterday, in three different continents, which featured Englishmen.
New Zealand: Auckland City 3-0 Wanderers SC (ASB Premiership)
Top played bottom in New Zealand as high-flying Auckland City hosted the struggling Wanderers SC in New Zealand’s top tier.
Auckland made it four wins from four in the league with a comfortable 3-0 win, which condemned Wanderers to a third straight defeat. They were helped to victory with the aid of two English expats, John Irving and Sam Burfoot.
Former Everton academy defender Irving and 20-year-old midfielder Burfoot both played the full ninety minutes as their side continues to dominate in New Zealand. The pair are both into their second seasons at Auckland and enjoyed league and continental success last season.
India: Kerala Blasters 0-0 Mumbai City (Indian Super League)
Another day, another match in the Indian Super League. This time it was Kerala Blasters’ turn as they hosted Peter Reid’s Mumbai City.
Kerala are managed by David James, who is also registered to play for the Blasters, and has missed just one game in the tournament so far. The 44-year-old rolled back the years to keep a clean sheet, no mean feat considering Mumbai’s star striker, Nicolas Anelka, was playing.
It was a second consecutive goalless draw for the Blasters and a third consecutive clean sheet, something the former England international can certainly be proud of. They remain 6th in the league table.
Slovakia: Zlaté Moravce 1-3 Trenčín (Slovak Cup)
In one of the more unusual career paths, English midfielder James Lawrence currently plays for Slovakian Super Liga side FK AS Trenčín, having joined them this summer after five years in Holland with Ajax, Sparta Rotterdam and RKC Waalwijk.
A fairly regular starter in his first season of senior football, Lawrence was in the starting line-up as 2nd place Trenčín travelled to 10th place Zlaté Moravce for a Slovak Cup last 16 match.
The 22-year-old played the entire match as his side eased to a 3-1 win over Zlaté to book their place in the quarter finals.
At the moment, it looks like tomorrow’s update will be fairly short, with it looking likely that no there are expatriates who have a match today.
English Players Abroad 